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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 27, I860. 
Brick Stoves.— Owing to tlie great heat apt to be produced 
by iron stoves by careless management, and also their first ex¬ 
pense if of large size, brick stoves formed less or more on the 
simple principle of Arnott’s, began to be introduced into our 
small greenhouses, and were even used for forcing, especially 
when a small boiler was placed on the top of them. Mr. Rivers 
has the honour of directing public attention to the economy of 
such stoves—at least I do not recollect hearing much about 
them until reading his remarks on the subject accompanied 
with plans for forming them, nearly fifteen years ago. 
These plans are also given in “The Orchard-House” by the 
same author, printed in 1860. It would not, therefore, be 
fair to copy them; but keeping the principle of the Arnott’s 
stove in view, and substituting solid four-inch brickwork for 
the iron, there will be little difficulty in making them. Mr. 
Rivers uses no division, as in jig. 6 ; but the fireplace or fire¬ 
box is in the middle instead of one side, and above tbe firebox a 
firelump is set up about three inches from the mouth of the 
smoke pipe, a similar space being left at the ends, which thus 
acts something like the partition in regulating the draught. 
Mr. Rivers tells us that for heating a house 30 feet long by 12 
feet wide, the stove should be 2 feet 4 inches square, 3 feet 10 
inches high; and the firebox should be 8 inches over and 8 inches 
deep. Eor a larger house, a larger square and a firebox a few 
inches larger would also be necessary. In forming the size 
named, lay out a space in the middle of the house about 2 feet 
from the back wall, and 28 inches square, lay that with one 
course of bricks and mortar, brick on bed. On this at front and 
in centre of it, fix your ash-pit door that will fit tight with a 
small ventilator in it, mark out a space from seven to eight inches 
wide, and to within eleven inches or so of the opposite side : that 
will be the base of your ash-pit. Build all round it until you get 
as high as, or a little above the height of, your ash-pit door ; then 
place bars across for the bottom of the fireplace, form your fire¬ 
place of firebricks eight inches square and that deep, or of four 
firelumps of the size of eight inches deep, finish with brick¬ 
work outside, and above the height of the fireplace place your 
double door for feeding. Use brickwork for the necessary height 
above them, and cover with a plate of iron three-quarters of an 
inch thick. A firelump should stand two or three inches in 
front of the draught pipe to equalise the heat, &c., and the 
smoke pipe should not be far from the top. With such stoves 
Mr. Rivers finds the horizontal pipe should not be long, but 
that it should enter an upright or sloping flue at the distance 
mentioned. He gives moisture by an evaporating-pan of water; 
and by fixing a small cistern, or rather boiler, on the top, he can 
easily heat pipes or tanks of water. Fig. 7 shows a rough 
vertical section through the centre, on much the same scale as the 
others—viz., five feet to the inch, only the openings by the sides 
of the firelump equal to those in front of the smoke-pipes are 
not shown. 
Fig. 7. 
The best example I have met with of heating a long house, 
and pretty well forcing it too by means of a brick stove, and the 
pipe carried along the back wall for fifteen or twenty feet, was at 
the nursery of Messrs. Lane, ‘at Berliampstead, and was noticed 
some years ago in The Cottage Gardener. I do not recollect 
the exact great length of the house, but the following figures 
will give a good idea of it. In jig. 8, the line A might represent 
a level line, and the line B would represent the sloping ground 
on which the house was built. I believe the success in heating 
such a large house, some eighty or more feet long, was partly 
owing to the slope of the roof and foundations. 
Fig. 9. 
Fig. 9 is the section of this sloping house. No. 1 is a bed at 
back in which Figs, &c., were plunged ; 2, a narrow bed nearer 
the front for lower things ; 3, is the pathway. The dotted lines 
in bed No. 1 are intended to represent the brick stove placed 
free of all walls, but near the back one at the low end of tl e 
house. The pit, No. 1, not coming to within four or five feet of 
the end, there is a free communication from the pathway round 
the stove. The door also opposite the pathway enters at that 
end. Now, keeping in view that from the stove the glass roof 
rises above the pits regularly on a slope, like the line B in jig. 8, 
and you will at once see how' naturally the heat given off by the 
stove rises and passes along until it gets to the extreme end ; and 
then keeping in mind, that the footpath between the beds slopes 
in an equal manner all the way down to the stove, you will find 
that the action of the stove will as naturally draw the cold air 
towards it, just as that close to it becomes rarefied and ascends. 
Here, in fact, is an exemplification of the Polmaise system of 
heating without making drains and flues on purpose (pretty well 
as expensive as making fire-flues at once). 
We could hardly pass these stoves by when they may just suit 
the wants of many with humble means; and besides, we feel con¬ 
fident that the person who can manage them satisfactorily will 
never have any difficulty in regulating flues or hot water. In fine, 
regretting I have not seen the stoves of Mr. Rivers, were it not for 
the width, I would prefer from the working of such stoves as I have 
noticed a rather close following of the plan shown in section fl. In 
a large stove, and water to be heated on the top, the lower the 
firebox was the better; and then, instead of a firelump above 
the firebox, we would not object to solid brickwork all round ex¬ 
cept at the doors, and a damper in the flue which should never 
be close, but leaving only an inch space or so when the fuel 
became red. In small stoves constructed as above, and the ash¬ 
pit door well looked to, there would be no need of a damper. I 
did not notice that Mr. Lane was particular with the ash-pit 
door; but then for such a large house he wanted a good draught. 
Neither do I recollect of any vessel for vapour; but the cold air 
would get moist enough in passing along the damp pathway. 
Such brick stoves should be built a month before fighting a fire. 
The firebricks or firelumps should be joined with fireclay mortar, 
though I have found good lime mortar little inferior, and the 
rest of the brickwork be joined with best mortar and small 
joints. The bricks should be new, hard-burned, and soaked in. 
water before using until no air-bubbles rise. R. Fish. 
(To be continued.) 
TREATMENT OF OLD DEBILITATED ORANGE 
TREES AND CAMELLIAS. 
We have some old Orange trees which apparently have been 
declining for years ; they have lost most of their foliage. They 
are growing in large wooden boxes of sodden-looking soil, and I 
believe the roots are in very bad condition. Having no house 
large enough to spare for them in spring, I thought of shifting 
them into smaller boxes and plunging these in a sweet hotbed 
out of doors ; or would some kind of canvass tent over them be 
advisable ? 
AVe have some old Camellias much in the same state, their 
foliage having anything but a green, healthy appearance, AVould 
